Biden Goes After Ohio State

I have been waiting and waiting for the perfect story to come up that combines both sports and politics. Finally, that story came about this morning when Joe Biden was speaking in Delaware. Normally, when the Democratic Vice President nominee speaks, it really isn’t that big of a deal....until today. Biden made a comment that could prove costly come election time.

We all know that Ohio is a battleground state, and that a Republican has never won the White House bid without taking Ohio in an election. So, it would make sense for Obama and Biden to be on their best behavior when they visit or talk about Ohio.

Today, Biden was at his alma mater, the University of Delaware, where he took some time to speak to the football team. He told the team that he was in Ohio recently and he told the people there…“we’d kick Ohio State’s ass.”

Now, that might not have been the smartest thing to do for two reasons. First of all, like I said earlier, Ohio is a battleground state, so you don’t want to piss anyone off there. Secondly, I guarantee you that there are people in Ohio who live and breathe Buckeye football. I’ve witnessed this die-hard fandom first hand. At the USC- Ohio State game, I met Mr. Buckeye… An obsessed fan covered head to toe in OSU gear, with a giant Buckeye flag as a cape and a red mustache to boot. Biden’s comment could make Mr. Buckeye and his friends vote for the McCain-Palin ticket. A recent poll showed Obama up by 1% in Ohio. You have to believe that 1% of the people voting for Obama are those crazy Buckeye fans.

You might be at your computer right now thinking I am absolutely nuts for thinking that a little comment about a football team could piss of a voter. The reality is, we live in a not so brilliant society where not everyone is as smart as you and me. You must remember, we are the country that reelected Bush in 2004. The informed and intelligent voter would realize that this was probably just Joe Biden being nice to his alma mater, but the uninformed voter might take it the wrong way.

Immediately after word spread about Biden’s comment, the Republican ticket started attacking. According to CNN, GOP State chair Bob Bennett said. "Barack Obama and Joe Biden must really think they can win this election without Ohio, because they're doing their best to lose it with stupid comments like these. Keep talking, Joe."

Of course the Democrats have to put in the last word, so Biden’s spokesman said, “I think this episode explains exactly why we’ll win Ohio: Joe Biden is loyal to his home team, and John McCain is loyal to President Bush." Man, have the Democrats been pounding that message in every single opportunity they have.

I find Bennett’s comment comical considering the fact that it was a few days ago when John McCain had the nerve to say that our economy wasn’t in bad shape. I am pretty sure the market went down 500 points on Monday and then went down another 449 points on Wednesday. I guess McCain was right…our economy isn’t in bad shape, it’s in ABSOLUTELY TERRIBLE shape.

This brings me to the point of this whole rant, which is; every word someone says shouldn’t be counted against him or her. These candidates have to speak to the public and the media every single day. You have to believe that they are going to say something stupid every once in a while. Both Obama and McCain have been campaigning their asses off the past month, and this is the first week where you can tell that both candidates are wearing down.

Unfortunately for Obama and McCain, they still have 43 more days until the election which means they have 43 more days of hell. Even worse for the two, they have to defend their flip flopping and their recent comments in a debate next Friday. Here’s my bold prediction…Whoever wins this debate will win the election.

I will definitely post my opinion of the first debate next Friday.

Until next time, goodnight from the press box.